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CHAPTER FIVE DISCUSSION 5.0 Introduction
Chapter Five presents the explanations for the findings of this research. The
research aimed at finding out how specific enduring and situational variables enhanced the WTC of a non-immersion high school student in Taiwan, and in doing so also discusses the possible answers to the two research questions proposed by the researcher. The findings from the present study were also discussed based on the preceding studies to provide possible answers to the two research questions. Because the present research is a case study, to provide a more holistic picture to the case, Walter, the researcher chose several themes to present the enduring and situational factors that influenced Walter’s WTC. The terms of the themes might be different from the coding schemes in Chapter Three; however, the researcher found it necessary to do so to present a holistic picture of the case.
5.1 Themes of the Enduring Variables
As stated in Chapter Four, the participant, Walter, was raised in Taiwan. Taiwan is considered an EFL country. Nevertheless, Walter still showed high WTC in English through the numbers of turns he took in the seven observed ESL sessions. From the data of the present research, the researcher found several themes of enduring variables in Walter’s case, including parental involvement, informal linguistic environment, and core beliefs. The following sections will discuss them in details.
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From the MFQ data, they suggested that Walter’s parents, relatives, and friends all wanted him to be good at English. The average score for these questions was five point seven out of six, indicating that Walter’s parents, relatives, and friends valued the learning of English. The findings in the present study were consistent with the findings in the previous research (Fan, X., & Chen, M. 2001). The researchers found that parents’
expectation for children’s education achievement greatly influences children’s educational performance. In the present research, Walter’s parents not only showed encouraging attitudes towards English learning, they were also involved in his English learning process. In the interviews, Walter mentioned that he needed to translate English videos, such as racing car videos, for his dad. And he needed to chat with his mom about her weekly English classes every Tuesday evening. In a previous research in 2015 (Castro et al., 2015), Castro and associates found that three types of parental involvement are the most effective, including communicating with children about what happened at school, parental expectations, and reading with children. In the present study, Walter’s parents did all three types of parental involvement (Castro et al., 2015) in their own ways. First, Walter’s parents had high expectation for his English learning, which showed in the data from his MFQ. Second, his father watched English videos with him, and asked him to translate these videos. Walter’s dad’s actions were like communicating with Walter about what happened at school. Because using English was an important part in Walter’s everyday life at school, using it at home, and translating English videos for his dad would be like showing his learning outcome from school. Lastly, Walter’s mom chatted with him every Tuesday evening about her English class. The data from the previous research (Castro et al., 2015) show that reading with children significantly influences their academic performance. In Walter’s case, Walter’s mom chatted with Walter in English
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instead of reading in English. This English-speaking activity at home showed Walter how much his mom cared about English learning.
5.1.2 Informal Linguistic Environment
Aside from parental involvement, informal linguistic environments could also influence Walter’s WTC in the present study. Walter’s parents took him to a golf
competition abroad every year. In the interviews, Walter mentioned that they went to Bali island for the golf competition last year. During the tour, his parents and he needed to use a lot of English with their caddies, such as discussing the kinds of clubs to be used in different circumstances, and talking about the distance and wind direction. In addition, Walter also went abroad traveling with his family every year. Although Walter and his family were in escorted tours during their annual trips, he still used a lot of English while shopping, exchanging currency, ordering food, and bargaining. In Carroll JB.’s research (1967), she found a strong relationship between time spent in countries where the L2 was spoken and academic achievement. Walter went abroad twice every year. The time he spent abroad certainly made his English improved. In Krashen S. D.’s research (1976), he mentioned about two kinds of linguistic environments, formal and informal linguistic environments. Both kinds of environments contribute to different aspects of L2
competence. A language classroom is a formal linguistic environment, whereas Walter’s annual golf competition and family trip can be considered informal linguistic
environments. Krashen (1976) then categorized informal linguistic environments into two kinds, an intake environment and an exposure environment. In an exposure environment, such as New York City, a learner only hears the L2, and does not use the L2 in a
meaningful way. On the other hand, in an intake environment, a learner not only hears the L2, but also use the L2 to communicate in a meaningful way. According to Krashen
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(1976), an intake environment in which a learner uses the L2 meaningfully and constantly can certainly improve his L2 skills. In the present research, Walter not only learned English in school, he also used English to communicate in different intake environments, such as during his annual golf competitions, and family trips. These all contributed to his English proficiency.
Another intake environment that Walter had was the online digital games he played at home. According to Walter, he made friends with online foreign digital game players while playing video games. He would team-up with the foreign game players, and they would discuss gaming strategies together. One time, he used the wrong word while commenting on the enemies, and the foreign player corrected him. Although he felt a bit embarrassed, he still thought that he learned something new. The findings in the present study were also consistent with the findings in Reinders and associate’s research
(Reinders, H., & Wattana, S. 2014). In Reinders and Wattana’s study (2014), their 30 Thai learners of English became more confident, more competent, and more willing to
communicate in English while playing online digital games. In the present study, Walter’s online digital games became his intake environment in which he could use the L2 to do a lot of meaningful communication. According to Krashen (1976), intake environments can truly improve a learner’s language abilities.
5.1.3 Learner’s Core Beliefs
Aside from parental involvement, and informal linguistic environments, Walter’s core beliefs also influenced his WTC in class. In the interviews with Walter, he mentioned his three core beliefs regarding L2 learning. He mentioned that he believed in
communicating with foreigners through their native languages, and he liked western-style of learning. These beliefs can be proven by his MFQ data. In the sections of
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integrativeness and perceptual and affective correlates, Walter got five point one seven out of six, and five point nine three out of six. These data suggested that he had very positive feelings towards the L2 community. According to Noels and associates’ research (Noels, K. A., Pelletier, L. G., Clément, R., & Vallerand, R. J., 2000), there are two kinds of L2 learning orientations, integrative and instrumental orientations. Integrative orientation is a desire to learn the L2 to have contact with, and perhaps to identify with, members from the L2 community. With his high integrative orientation, Walter enjoyed chatting with his ESL teacher, and other foreigners who he met online or in foreign countries. The last core belief that Walter mentioned during the interviews was his belief of the uselessness of grammar and structure in English oral communication. As stated in Chapter Four, Walter thought grammar was only useful in English writing, not in oral communication. He believed that in oral communication, the main goal was to be understood. In addition, he also believed that because of his identity of a second language learner of English, native speakers could tolerate the grammar mistakes he made, and understand what he said if he used the right vocabulary. These beliefs formed his behaviors in English learning, making him want to practice English oral communication, but not eager to learn English grammar.
According to the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 2002), there are three types of beliefs in human actions, behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs, and control beliefs. Behavioral beliefs refer to the beliefs about the consequences of the behavior. Normative beliefs refer to the expectations of other people. Control beliefs refer to after perceiving the ease or difficulty of a certain task, the person might further or hinder his performance through his behavioral control. Walter’s three core beliefs were related to these three belief types.
First, his belief of communicating with foreigners with their native language might be related to other people’s expectation, which was his normative belief. Second, Walter’s two belief of preferring western education might be his behavioral beliefs. Because of this
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belief, he chose to participate a lot in the speaking activities in the ESL class, but not in the grammar learning activities in Ms. Lin’s class. Third, his belief of the uselessness of grammar in oral communication might be related to his control beliefs. Because he thought that grammar was not useful in oral communication, he chose not to put much efforts in grammar learning.
5.1.4 Summary of the Enduring Variables
Overall, from Walter’s data, it can be suggested that enduring factors, such as parental involvement, informal linguistic environments, and his core beliefs in L2 learning could all enhance or hinder his WTC. Walter’s data from the MFQ showed that he had high integrativeness, and perceptual and affective correlates, and low fear of assimilation.
These qualities made him willing to use the L2 at home, in school, and in foreign
countries. Together with the parental involvement, and informal linguistic environments he had, these conditions all made him willing to use English in different situations.
However, because of his core beliefs in English learning, he did not put much efforts on learning grammar in class.